1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
Since electrophotographic image formation has advantages of high speed and high printing quality, it is widely used in fields such as copiers and laser-beam printers. Generally, Carlson's method is used in image forming apparatuses such as copiers and laser-beam printers. An electrostatic latent image formed on an electrophotographic photoreceptor using charging by a corona charging unit or a conductive roller and using an exposure device is developed in a developing process, and then is transferred onto a recording medium such as a recording sheet in a transfer process. Next, in a fixing process, fixing to the recording medium such as a recording sheet by heat and pressure is performed to form an image.
As the electrophotographic photoreceptor (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as “photoreceptor”) for use in the electrophotographic apparatus, electrophotographic photoreceptors using an organic photoconductive material having excellent advantages in view of inexpensiveness, manufacturability, and disposability are much more common in comparison with photoreceptors using an inorganic photoconductive material. Among them, functional separation-type organic photoreceptors in which a charge generation layer that generates charges by exposure and a charge transport layer that transports charges are laminated are excellent in view of electrophotographic characteristics, and various proposals have been made and put to practical use. In recent years, with the development of techniques, speed, image quality, and lifetime have increased.
Regarding an undercoat layer, in order to suppress the generation of residual potential with a bulk deterioration due to energization history and a deterioration of an interface between the undercoat layer and a conductive base material, a configuration in which the undercoat layer contains an acceptor is well known. In addition, by increasing the amount of the acceptor, the generation of residual potential may be suppressed over a longer period of time.